Types of MLB Betting

New to betting on the MLB? This article will teach the different ways you can bet on the MLB games.

There are three main types of MLB betting that we are going to talk about (and I will mention some other types of betting too):

Money Line, Run Line, and Game Total (or Over/Under) betting

Lets start with the most popular…

Money Line MLB Betting

Money line betting in the MLB is a pretty simple concept. In this type of betting you will simply be choosing which team will win the game. It won’t matter how they do it, how much they win by, or if they deserved to win or not – they just need to win the game!

Odds will be put on each team and you choose which side you want to take.

Using our example in a game between the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees you can see the Yankees listed as -150 favorites, while the Tigers are listed as +140 underdogs. You then choose which team you think will win given the odds and will get paid out accordingly if they win.

Not much to money line betting, and that is why it is the most popular type of MLB betting.

Run Line MLB Betting

Run line betting in the MLB is very similar to betting against the spread in football (NFL and college) if you are familiar with that at all. The difference being the “spread” or in baseball referred to as the “run line” is always set at 1.5 runs.

With run line betting you will still be choosing a side (or team) but it is a little different. The team that is favored has a 1.5 run line they must cover, while the underdogs are basically given a 1 run head start. Basically what this means is that if you choose the favored team you will need them to win by 2 runs or more. If you choose the underdog team they can lose by just 1 run or win the game for you to win your bet.

In our example you will see the Tigers are the underdogs in the game and are therefore listed at +1.5 on the run line paying -165. The Yankees are the favorites and have the -1.5 run line paying +145. (The + indicates underdog while – indicates the favorite). If you bet on the Tigers and they lost 5-4 you would win the bet because they stayed within the 1.5 run line. If you bet on the Yankees and they won 5-4 you wouldn’t win your bet because they didn’t cover the 1.5 run line (a 6-4 win would give you the winning ticket though).

A little more confusing, but I hope I explained well enough for you to understand.

Over Under MLB Betting (or Game Total Betting)

Betting on the Over/Under of Game Total is betting on the total number of runs scored in the game between both teams.

The oddsmakers will set a number for the game (that number changes depending on starting pitchers, line ups, etc) and you are able to bet on the teams scoring more or less combined runs than the number given.

In our example you will see that the total is set at 8 runs. You can choose “Over” 8 runs at -115 odds. If the game finished 5-4 this would equal 9 runs and your “over” bet would be a winner. You could also choose the “Under” 8 runs and if the game finished 7-0 you would win that wager. If the game finished 5-3 (8 total runs) it would be a “push” with all bets refunded.

A majority of the game totals are set at half numbers (8.5 for example) so that there aren’t any pushes. With a 8.5 total the over would win with 9 or more runs and the under would win with 8 or less runs.

There you go – the three main types of MLB betting. You can also wager on prop bets (example – Will Jeter have over/under 1.5 hits today?) and future betting (example – who will win the World Series?).

If you are ready to start betting on the MLB visit 5Dimes.com and sign up for an account.